| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae |
Protodeltote Ueda
Adults. Head loosely scaled. Eyes glabrous; not ciliated. Antennae of males ciliate. Labial palps medium; ascending.
Wingspan 24–30 mm. Head and thorax brown, the abdomen greyer. Forewings blackish, rich brown or dark fuscous and whitish; brown, or fuscous, or blackish; complexly patterned; the patterning well marked (marbled, shaded and dotted); reniform defined; orbicular defined; claviform defined. Hindwings fuscous; fairly conspicuously patterned (with a conspicuous light band, in L. deceptoria), or plain; with a clear discal mark, or without a clear discal mark; transversely lined, or without transverse lines; exhibiting vein 5. Vein 5 of the hindwings strong; arising nearer to vein 4 than to vein 6; convergent on vein 4 near their bases. Thorax slightly crested (posteriorly). Middle tibiae without spines. Posterior tibiae with spines; with appressed scales. Abdomen (several-) crested.
Living adults found June and July.
Larvae, pupae. Larvae feeding on leaves of Molinia and Rubus.
British representation. 2 species; South-east England, Central-southern England, South-west England, English Midlands, Northern England, Wales, and Ireland; deceptoria (Pretty Marbled), pygarga (Marbled White Spot, = Protodeltote).
Eustrotiinae.
Illustrations. • Acontiinae: Lithacodia pygarga (Marbled White-spot: B. Ent. 356). • L. pygarga (Marbled White-spot), with other Heliothidinae and Acontiinae: Newman. HELIOTHIDINAE. 1, Pyrrhia umbra (Bordered Sallow); 2, Helicoverpa armigera (Scarce Bordered Straw); 3, Heliothis viriplaca (Marbled Clover); 4, Heliothis peltigera (Bordered Straw). ACONTIINAE. 5, Lithacodia pygarga (Marbled White Spot); 6, Eustrotia uncula (Silver Hook); 7, Eublemma ostrina (Purple Marbled); 8, Eublemma parva (Small Marbled); 9, Acontia lucida (Pale Shoulder); 10, Deltote bankiana (Silver-Barred); 11, Emmelia trabealis (Spotted Sulphur). From Newman, 1869. • L. deceptoria (Pretty Marbled) and L. pygarga(Marbled White-spot), with other Acontiinae, Amphipyrinae, Hadeninae and Heliothidinae: Kirby. ACONTIINAE. 13, Acontia lucida (Pale Shoulder); 17, Eublemma minutata (Scarce Marbled); 18, Deltote bankiana (Silver Barred); 19, Eustrotia uncula (Silver Hook); 20, Lithacodia deceptoria (Pretty Marbled); 21, Lithacodia pygarga (Marbled White Spot); 22, Emmelia trabealis (Spotted Sulphur). AMPHIPYRINAE. 5, Panemeria tenebrata (Small Yellow Underwing). HADENINAE. 3, Anarta myrtilli (Beautiful Yellow Underwing); 4, Anarta cordigera (Small Dark Yellow Underwing). HELIOTHIDINAE. 8. Heliothis viriplaca (Marbled Clover); 9, Protoschinia scutosa (Spotted Clover); 10, Heliothis peltigera (Bordered Straw); 11, Periphanes delphinii (Pease Blossom); 12, Pyrrhia umbra (Bordered Sallow) . CATOCALINAE. 28, Minucia lunaris (Lunar Double Stripe). From Kirby 42.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Lepidoptera-Noctuidae. Version: 14th February 2021. delta-intkey.com’.
